Before You Go (A Dumping Ground One-Shot)
by undoubtedlylyd
Summary: Johnny and Carmen have known each other a long time, and it won't be long before Johnny leaves for the army. So, his last Christmas at The Dumping Ground has got to be a special one. When a Christmas prank goes badly for Carmen, will Johnny have the opportunity to say what he was meaning to? No better time, before he goes. One-shot set between series 2 and 3.


**Merry Christmas, readers!**

 **I had a lovely present this morning, your 70 reviews on my Dumping Ground fan fiction, 'Going Home'! I literally jumped out of bed and yelled, "It's Christmas!" Thank you so much, guys :D (If you're new here, please check that out...)**

 **Here's your little Christmas Dumping Ground one-shot as promised, about Johnny and Carmen.**

 **Hope you all had a lovely day!**

 **Enjoy, guys xx**

* * *

It was Christmas Eve at Ashdene Ridge, better known as The Dumping Ground to its residents. Carmen Howell left her room, dressed in a pretty red party dress. She was feeling rather festive, and was carrying a little box of candy canes as she hummed a Christmas tune. She made her way downstairs, to where the final preparations were being made. The living room had a big tree in one corner, which was brightly decorated with tinsel, baubles and fairy lights.

"I've got something to add to the tree," she said, going up to it. May-Li turned round from where she was placing a few presents, and smiled at Carmen.

"Hey, that's a good idea," she said.

"I'll help," Jody said eagerly, reaching out a hand to take the box from Carmen.

"All right," the older girl agreed, handing her the box. Tyler rushed over to see what was going on. "I've got something to finish, anyway." Carmen went back to her room.

Tyler took a candy cane from the box, and looked at Jody, who was hanging one on the tall Christmas tree. She frowned at him, looking at the red and white striped candy cane in his hand. Then she grinned. She exchanged a conspiratorial glance.

"What makes Christmas a DG Christmas?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"A prank," they said in unison.

Carmen was working on a very special present in her room. It was a big scrapbook, which she had filled with pictures of them all. It was for Johnny, as this was his last Christmas at The Dumping Ground. He would be leaving for the army in the summer holidays, after all. Carmen stuck the last picture in, which was a recent group photo, and closed the large book. There was a knock at the door.

"Um, one sec!" she mumbled, quickly stuffing the book under her pillow. "Come in!"

It was Johnny who opened the door. His nose was pink from the cold and he was wearing a blue and white Christmas jumper with a snowman on the front. He grinned at her.

"Town is absolutely packed!" he said cheerfully.

"Did you manage to get the last of your Christmas shopping?" Carmen asked, standing up and brushing down her dress.

"Yeah, luckily," he replied. "Nothing worse than not having a present for everyone on your last Christmas here."

"Yeah," Carmen muttered, looking at her pink carpet.

"Hey, you look nice," Johnny said.

"Oh, um, thanks," Carmen said, flushing bright red. "Nice Christmas jumper," she returned.

"Cheers," he said with a laugh. "Not wearing yours, then?"

"Nope," she replied easily, "Not one for ugly Christmas jumpers, myself."

"I thought you liked mine!" Johnny protested, but he smiled at her. "Mike said to tell you that tea's ready."

"Oh, OK," Carmen said with a smile. She glanced once at her pillow, but Johnny's gift was safely hidden from view. She followed him out of her room and down the corridor.

"I must say, it's really starting to feel like Christmas," said Johnny, as they went down the stairs.

"I know what you mean," said Carmen, going ahead of him and pushing the door to the living room open. Johnny glanced up.

"Uh-oh, Carmen," he began, "Watch out!"

"What?" Carmen started, but was silenced when a bucket of paint was upturned on her head. She reached up one hand to find that she had been covered in red and white paint. She gave a scream. The other kids rushed into the hallway to see what had happened.

"Who did this!?" Carmen demanded rather shrilly. "My dress is ruined!"

"What's going on?" Mike asked, coming out of the office. He caught sight of Carmen. "Oh, no," he said. "Who is responsible for this?"

Jody and Tyler were standing near the kitchen doorway, looking rather guilty. Tyler was also holding two tubes of paint; one red and one white. Jody had a candy cane and held it up, looking from the sweet to Carmen. Mike looked at them and frowned.

"You two are cleaning this up, now," he said, raising his voice.

"It's only water-based paint," Jody protested.

"You do look like a candy cane," said Tyler, starting to laugh but quickly shut up.

"I can't believe you," Carmen yelled, storming up the stairs to the bathroom.

"Everybody, go and have tea," said Mike, "Apart from you two." He pointed at the guilty pair.

"What were you thinking?" May-Li asked exasperatedly.

"Everybody loves a good prank," Tyler defended.

"Don't you two ever take a day off?" May-Li questioned, hands on hips.

"It wasn't meant for Carmen, specifically," Jody mumbled.

"Tyler, get a mop, now," the dark haired woman said with a sigh.

Carmen peeled off her paint-splattered dress and got straight in the shower. Thankfully all of the paint came out of her hair and she went back to her room, wrapped in her pink fluffy dressing gown. She sighed and sat down on her bed. Johnny appeared in the doorway, carrying a plate of food.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

"Sure, Johnny," she said, as she heard the rest of the kids coming upstairs to get ready for bed. He sat down opposite her, on Kazima's bed. He put the food on her bedside table.

"Sorry about what happened," he said.

"It wasn't your fault," Carmen sighed. "What am I supposed to wear tomorrow?"

"You could always wear your Christmas jumper," he suggested with a grin. She raised an eyebrow as he got up and crossed to her wardrobe. Opening the door, he produced a red Christmas jumper with a reindeer on the front. "It's not that bad," he considered, holding it up.

"It is, though," Carmen laughed. He put it back and sat down next to her.

"Carmen?" he asked.

"Yes, Johnny?" she replied.

"I know this is my last Christmas at The Dumping Ground," he began.

"Yeah?" she asked expectantly.

"Well, it's just," he stammered, "Well, there's this thing I've been meaning to tell you."

"What is it?" Carmen murmured when he hesitated.

"I just don't want you to be sad," he said, looking away, "It is Christmas, after all."

Carmen sighed, sensing that he hadn't said what he'd meant to.

"Yeah," she agreed, "I want us to just all be happy for the whole day."

"You might be pushing it," he said. They exchanged a smirk.

"Well, see you in the morning," she said.

"Yeah, sleep well," he replied, leaving the room.

Carmen raised her eyebrows and took a bite of the sandwich Johnny had brought up for her. She finished her tea and closed the door, changing into her pink pyjamas. Kaz came in then, having finished helping May-Li in the kitchen. She came and flopped down on her bed.

"I cannot believe it is actually Christmas tomorrow," she said.

"I know what you mean," Carmen said, "It's come quick, hasn't it?"

"Yeah," Kaz said. "Sometimes I just wish..."

"What, Kaz?" Carmen asked.

"Sometimes I just think about what it would be like to be with my family on this day," she said, a little sadly.

"Oh, Kaz," said Carmen. Kaz smiled.

"But, it's OK," she said simply, "Because you're my family now." They smiled at each other and Carmen reached forward to hug her friend.

"Well, I'd better take this back downstairs," said Carmen, picking up her empty plate. "And then we've got to go to sleep, because the sooner we go to sleep..."

"The sooner Christmas will arrive?" Kaz finished. She laughed. "That's what you always say."

"You know me too well," said Carmen, raising her eyebrows and closing the door behind her as she went out into the corridor. May-Li was in the kitchen, putting the last of the plates into the dishwasher.

"Did you manage to get it all out?" she asked, turning to look at Carmen as she entered.

"Yeah," she replied. "Don't know if my dress survived, though."

"I'm sure I can resurrect it," May-Li said with a laugh.

"Thanks, May-Li," Carmen said with a smile. "I won't need it tomorrow, though."

"Oh, why's that?" she asked.

"Christmas isn't exactly Christmas without Christmas jumpers," said Carmen.

* * *

The next morning, Carmen and Kaz were woken up by the thud of small feet in the corridor. Carmen grinned and threw off the covers. She opened their bedroom door and peered out. Floss and Harry were running down the corridor as doors opened along it. Carmen smiled at Jody who opened her door, the whole business of the previous day forgotten.

"It's Christmas!" Floss yelled, and all of the kids came out of their rooms in their pyjamas.

"Time to open presents!" Jody shouted, rushing off downstairs, followed closely by Tyler and Mo.

"Merry Christmas, Carms," said Tee, coming over to hug her friend. Carmen gave her best friend a squeeze. The two of them had spent many a Christmas at The Dumping Ground together.

"Let's go open our presents!" Carmen said, excitedly, leading the way downstairs.

The kids flooded downstairs and ran to the tree. They each had a stocking filled with little gifts, which they sat down to open excitedly. Carmen noticed that Johnny was absent from their little gathering, but she eagerly reached inside her pink stocking to find a pretty bracelets, and some sweets and chocolates. The kids laughed happily as they opened their presents. It was early, but not too early for Mike and May-Li to come and join them all.

Johnny's present was still under the tree as most of the presents had been unwrapped. He came in from the kitchen, carrying a large flat box. It was pink and was tied with a silver ribbon. Carmen frowned as she wondered who it was for. Floss grabbed Johnny's stocking and waved it in the air.

"Johnny, here's your stocking!" she yelled. Johnny laughed, coming over to the group. He sat down next to Carmen and took it.

"Who's that present for?" the red haired girl asked.

"This is for Carmen," he said, awkwardly passing it over. Carmen took it in surprise.

"This is for you," she said, reaching for the large, heavy package and passing it to him. She watched as he tore the silver wrapping paper. His eyes widened as they fell on the large leather-bound scrapbook. He flicked through the pages, seeing the smiling faces of his friends.

"Thanks, Carmen," he said, "It's brilliant. Open yours," he added eagerly. Carmen smiled and pulled at the silver ribbon, the bow coming loose. She lifted the lid off the box to find a sparkly silver necklace with a pendant in a crescent shape.

"Oh, it's beautiful, Johnny, thank you," she gushed.

"Look what it's sitting on," he said, pointing beyond the necklace. There was red tissue paper, which Carmen pushed aside, revealing red material. She lifted it out to find it was her dress, paint-free and good as new.

"You cleaned my dress?" she asked incredulously.

"May-Li helped," Johnny said modestly. "But I saw how it upset you yesterday, and I just wanted to cheer you up."

"Thank you so much," she said, beaming. She impulsively threw her arms around him. He seemed surprised but hugged her back. There was a chorus of _oohs_ before they released each other. Carmen, blushing, put her dress back in the large box and stood up. "Well, I'm going to get dressed before I eat any more chocolate," she said.

Carmen practically ran upstairs to her room, closing the door behind her. She opened her wardrobe and saw her Christmas jumper. She knew Johnny would be wearing his, and decided that for once she didn't mind looking silly. She left her room with her new necklace in hand. She saw Johnny leave his room and go down the stairs, clad in his Christmas jumper and jeans. As he turned the corner, he saw her and smiled. She caught up with him at the bottom of the stairs.

"You're not wearing the dress?" he asked.

"Nope," she replied.

"After all that work," he said, shaking his head.

"I decided that I should wear this," she said, gesturing to her Christmas jumper.

"Fair enough," he said with a grin, "Wouldn't be Christmas otherwise."

"Exactly," she said. "Would you... put this on for me?" she asked, holding out the necklace.

"Sure," he said, taking the necklace as she turned around. She moved her hair out of the way and Johnny secured the necklace around her neck.

"I really like it," she said, turning back round to face him. She fingered the silver crescent pendant, which was embedded with tiny crystal-like gems.

"I chose that one because the moon shape sort of looks like a 'C'," he explained. "You know, for Carmen."

"Aw, that's so sweet," she said.

"You know yesterday, when I said I had something to tell you?" Johnny began. Carmen nodded. "Well, I didn't say it. What I meant to say was... that I'll really miss you. Uh, I know I'm not going for a while, but..."

"Oh, Johnny," said Carmen, "I'll really miss you, too."

"You will?" he asked in surprise, "I mean, of course-"

"Johnny," she said, silencing him, "I won't just miss you because I've known you for so long."

"Yeah, I'll miss you because," he started. Neither of them could quite say it. He put his arms around her.

"Yeah, that kind of says it," Carmen murmured, hugging back tightly.

They broke apart and looked at each other.

"Wehey," Tyler called, as he and Jody bounded down the stairs. Jody waved a sprig of mistletoe above Johnny and Carmen's heads. Johnny actually blushed, as did Carmen, and she rolled her eyes. The two jokers ran off back to the living room.

"Well, Merry Christmas, Carmen," said Johnny.

"Merry Christmas, Johnny," Carmen replied. They shared a smile and had a wonderful day with the rest of The Dumping Ground kids, looking forward to the things the new year would bring.


End file.
